When There's No One Around
by Liquor Chugging Knight
Summary: Fuujin shares a strange converstaion with Seifer. Fuujin x Seifer, although it's very mild. Some bad words and suggestive scenes, so naughty children, beware :)


Disclaimer: FF8 and the whole lot belong to Squaresoft. And I'm going to marry the son of that company's head so that I wouldn't have to disclaim anything.

-this story is what happens when I'm mortally pissed off.

**********

When There's No One Around

By: Liquor Chugging Knight

It's not hard to feel sorry for him, my superior.

There he was, with nothing to do but to fish all day. A body could easily tire of it, but somehow, for the life of me, I couldn't bring myself to leave this godforsaken place. Maybe it was the easy lifestyle. No instructors breathing down your neck, no useless lessons that train you to become a cold-blooded killer, no SeeDs scurrying about like fucking ants, no, none of that.

This was the life. 

Hah, yeah right. We were no better off than Squall and his Balamb cronies. The only difference between us and them was that we weren't stupid enough to try and save the earth. Because once you did that kind of shit there was no going back. People expect you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders for the rest of your life and criticize every move you make, every decision you take, hell, they don't even have the decency to acknowledge the sacrifices you made for them. So no, that kind of life, I leave to Squall and his planet-saving buddies. Me, I'm fine right here.

"How long are you going to stand there?" He said, finally acknowledging my presence. Turning towards me, he motioned for me to sit down beside him, and I moved closer, aware that his eyes never left me, even as I seated myself next to him.

He always does that nowadays, looks at me for hours at a time, as if he couldn't place me for what I was.

"The fish aren't biting today." He said, looking at the sea. "They never do. You think it's because of me?"

"NEGATIVE."

"Cut the reverential crap. I'm not your senior." He said, setting the fishing rod aside.

"SORRY." I replied almost instantly, putting up a hand when he gave me a look. "I'm just used to it. You can't blame me. You're still the leader of this band."

"Yeah, I guess I am." He said, leaning back almost lazily against the wooden post. "You know, it would be better if you and Raijin just left this desolate town and got, you know, a fucking life."

"We can't go without you, sir, you know that-"

"And why is that?" He interrupted, cocking an eyebrow at me. "Is there some written creed somewhere that if you left me, the world will shrivel up and die or something? You're not honor-bound to me, what's keeping you here?"

I looked at him, his eyes fierce yet calm, daring me to speak.

Fire throwing caution to the Wind.

"Don't be stupid, we're here by our own choice." I said, and I heard him laugh softly at my words. I turned to admonish him, but the gentle smile on his lips stilled me and told me he believed me.

"Even Raijin?" he added as an afterthought.

"AFFIRMATIVE."

"How many times do I have to tell you to quit talking like that?" he said, his smile vanishing.

"But-"

Reaching out, he placed a finger on my lips and shook his head. Then his arm snaked around my waist and drew me close.

"Don't you know? I'm beneath you." He said softly, his breath warm on my skin.

I inhaled deeply, and smelled alcohol.

"Sir, have you been drinking?" I said. He smiled crookedly and leaned in a little closer.

"What if I was?"

"I knew something was wrong with you." I said, pushing myself away from him with such force that he let go of me in surprise.

"…Fuujin.."

"YES,SIR?"

"I know it's stupid, but I like it better when you're not belting out 'AFFIRMATIVE's and 'NEGATIVE's at the top of your lungs." He said. I looked at him, not entirely sure what he meant.

"I like your voice." He said sincerely.

"It's just the alcohol talking. Shut up." I replied.

"No, really. It's got this rough, velvet tremor to it, ya know?"

"You're beginning to sound more and more like Raijin, _ya know_?" I said mockingly, shrugging off his words as nothing more than that. Words. He looked at me in reply and sighed, something he rarely did. Reaching inside his coat, he drew out a flask, unscrewed the cap, and had a long draught.

"_Ah_, hits the spot." He said, luxuriously leaning back in self-contentment. I looked at him and laughed. At the sound of my voice, he raised the flask and offered it to me. As I reached for it, his eyes suddenly glittered and he pulled away holding the thermos just beyond my outstretched fingers.

"Hey-" I began, trying again and again to catch the hip flask that he was brandishing around. Catching my hand with his free one, he looked into my eyes, and arrested my protests.

"I'll give it to you," he said, "…if you let me see your scar."

"What..?" I said, laughingly.

"Just once." He said.

"Seifer-..no," I began, trying to pull my hand away from his.

"Come on, I'm drunk, you're beautiful, just…let me have my allowances." He pleaded.

"What allowances? I don't owe you anything, you fucking drunk. Let go of my-"

"Just once." He repeated.

To my surprise, I found myself yielding to his wish, and allowed him to raise his hand to my face, and lift the patch that covered my eye. When he peered beneath it, I heard an intake of breath and felt him take off the patch completely.

"Fuck, Fuujin…"

"Look, I know it's not pretty-" I started, but he cut me off with a touch, tracing the scar with his fingers.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, following the gash lightly from where the inner corner of my eye used to be, up to where it met my hair line, and disappeared beneath the silver-moon locks.

"What the hell are you sorry for..?"

"This." he said, his lips brushing slightly against the scar. "You've always blamed yourself for this…but it's not your fault."

"…I know that." I said, smiling at him reassuringly.

"No, you don't, Fuujin. It's not your fault."

"Yeah, okay, I know."

"Fuujin, it's not your fault."

"Why do you keep repeating this?" I said, my smile faltering. Voices resounded in my head, the abuse, the pain, the hurt, the anger.

The anger…then the fight…

_"You're pathetic. Get up! Get up or I'll kill you!"_

_I couldn't get up. I wanted to shout at him. Hurt him. But when I opened my mouth, all that came out was blood…_

Why am I remembering this?

"Fuujin, it's not your fault." He repeated.

_"Fuujin, you bitch! Get back here!"_

_I tried to run for it, but before I got to the door, he caught me…threw me to the floor, and when I wouldn't get up, he kicked me. He kicked me and kicked me and kicked me until I threw up my lunch out onto the carpet, and he pressed my face to the floor, pressed my face to my own, stinking vomit…_

No, I don't want to remember this! I don't want to!

"…stop it. Stop saying that!" I said. I tried to wrench my arm from his grasp, but he pulled me closer, his eyes meeting mine.

"Fuujin, it's not your fault."

_He pulled out a dagger and ran the blunt side against his flesh, kneeling down beside me and pulling me up by my hair._

_"Quiet bitch, or would you like me to stick this inside you?"_

_I tried to pull free, and million hair roots tore from my scalp, and as I cried in anguish, he raised his dagger and shook me fiercely._

_"Didn't I tell you to shut up?!!!" he roared. Then he brought the knife down and slashed at my face._

_"AAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!" Sobbing, I clutched my face, and felt my blood, pulsating from my wound, mingling with my tears, my eye…my eye…_

"You-what are you trying to…?" I said angrily. "Stop fucking with me!! It's not funny!"

_"You gonna shout some more bitch? Huh? Why are you all silent, answer me!!" he fetched a kick to my face, and I fell._

_"You're pathetic. Get up! Get up or I'll kill you!"_

_I couldn't get up. I wanted to shout at him. Hurt him. But when I opened my mouth, all that came out was blood…_

_"Are you gonna scream some more?" he taunted, reaching out and pinning me to the floor. Laughing at my futile struggle, he leaned closer, licking his lips. "I'll give you something to scream about…"_

_Then he leaned down and ran his tongue down my neck, his free hand reaching down…_

_"NOOOOO!!!!!!!"_

"Fuujin, it's not your fault."

"It is. I.."

_He never got far. As he fumbled with the zipper of my pants, I struggled and kicked until my heel came into contact with his groin, and he let go of me, doubling over in pain. In the midst of his anguished cries, his knife fell out of his hand, hitting the ground with a clatter._

_I lunged for dagger, and when he reached for me, I lashed out with every bit of strength I could muster. He fell back, clutching at the gaping wound in his throat. I advanced on him, his blood dripping from my hands._

_"Why did you do this to me?" I asked him, tears streaming down my face._

_"…bitch.." he laughed as a thin trickle of blood oozed out of the corner of his mouth._

_"No. Not bitch." I corrected him, raising the knife above my head. "Daughter."_

"..I plunged the knife into every fucking part of his body I could reach." I said. "I killed him."

"Fuujin," Seifer started.

"No. I don't need your sympathy. You wanted a peek. You got the whole package."

"No, not everything." He said, pulling me closer. Tangling his hands in my hair, he breathed in my scent, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"Not everything." 

Then his lips met mine for the briefest moment. And before I realized it, he had pushed me away and was walking down the pier. Without thinking, I called out to him.

"Seifer," I began, wondering what I wanted to say to him.

"Look," he said, turning to face me, "just don't stay out too late. Raijin'll throw a fit if you don't eat the fish he caught today."

It was just like him, to act as if nothing happened, as if it were still the good old times, when the only thing that kept us together was the stupid role of policing the pre-mobile Balamb garden. Our famed posse, the Wind and Thunder, governed by Fire.

I missed those times.

"AFFIRMATIVE." I said, throwing him a mock salute. A smile came to his lips, and he walked backwards, saluting back at me, before turning away and walking with that arrogant swagger of his.

His fishing rod lay abandoned on the deck, and I picked it up, wondering how different it felt from his gun blade. How different it felt from me.

_…Don't you know? I'm beneath you…_

I smiled. How wrong he was. Leaning back, I sat alone on the wharf, watching the sea gulls in the horizon.

It's quiet now. It always is when there's no one around.


End file.
